Dr. Aparna Zama is an Associate Teaching Professor and the Director of the Undergraduate Program in Animal Sciences at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) at Rutgers-New Brunswick. Dr. Zama won the 2022 SEBS Teaching Excellence award and was named a Provost Teaching Fellow in 2021-2022. Dr. Zama is the Chair of the Curriculum and Educational Policy Committee at SEBS. She has extensive experience in developing and delivering curriculum that prepares students for various health professions and animal science- and agriculture-related careers. She currently teaches the Careers in Animal Science course and spearheads the career development opportunities for Animal Science majors. She is also the Chair of the department’s scholarships, curriculum, and baccalaureate awards committees.
Dr. Zama has extensive experience training undergraduates and graduate students in research and has also developed experiential learning modules for animal science students such as Teaching in Animal Science, Leadership in Animal Science, In Vivo Lab Animal Techniques, and Introduction to Veterinary Technology. Dr. Zama’s overall goal with experiential learning is for students to become well-rounded, well-informed scientist-scholars, health professionals, educators, and future workforce in the life sciences, as well as in food agriculture and natural resources. She was recently funded with a USDA/NIFA-NEXTGEN grant for the project titled “Animal Science Discovery (ANSCId) program” which aims to open the gateway to a tiered pathway between NYC high schools routed through LaGuardia Community College and to Rutgers for careers in Animal Science.